Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Opposing Sexual Deviancy Verboten in Calif. School

A handful of students at Shadow Hills High School in Indio, California recently began wearing tiny stickers showing their opposition to the Gay Agenda advocacy that is widespread in the school. Naturally, the sexual revolutionaries complained, so the the Desert Sands Unified School District has banned the stickers.

“Yes, there is freedom of speech . . . but at least in my view, it's a hate crime because a group was targeted.”-- Amy Oberman, teacher of AP U.S. History at Shadow Hills

Both anti-gay stickers and pro-gay rights symbols previously had been allowed as a matter of free speech at Shadow Hills High School in Indio, a city outside Palm Springs. But Superintendent Gary Rutherford wrote in a letter to Shadow Hills staff on Monday that new “information” had prompted an additional review. He didn’t note what that information was.

“Recently some information has been brought forward that requires additional investigation and follow-up to determine a proper course of action,” Rutherford wrote. “Pending further investigation, we are going to ask students who are displaying the symbol showing a rainbow pattern with a circle and a line, at least for now, to remove symbols while at school.”

Site and district administration had previously said they could not ask the 12 students to remove the anti-gay symbols in the interest of protecting freedom of speech rights.

Officials would not comment on what additional information prompted the [reversal and] investigation. A call to Shadow Hills Principal Marcus Wood was not immediately returned.

The symbols began appearing on campus several weeks ago when a handful of students started wearing the anti-gay badges on their school ID cards. One of the symbols was placed on the window of the Gay Straight Alliance coordinator's classroom, and a student changed his Google Classroom profile picture to an image of the symbol, said AP U.S. History teacher Amy Oberman.

Teachers and students at Shadow Hills were upset with the district's rationale last week, saying that LGBTQ students on campus felt targeted by the students.

Students who placed anti-gay stickers on their identification badges at a Southern California high school have the right to wear the symbols, just as others can sport insignia supporting gay rights, administrators said.

Both symbols are allowed as a matter of free speech, as long as they do not cause a disruption at Shadow Hills High School in Indio, a city outside Palm Springs, administrators said in a statement emailed to staff last week.

“We all have a right to freedom of speech, but students also have a right to be educated without fear. This has always been our policy, and we will continue to enforce it,” according to their Wednesday statement.

“Sometimes people can be uncomfortable because of an opinion, but that doesn’t mean it’s bullying,” said Laura Fisher, assistant superintendent of personnel services.